The Ghost
by bloodstain5
Summary: slight YahikoTsubame ness, but thats not the main idea. The Kenshin gumi are pulled into a serious situation when a western woman moves to Japan and brings a horrible secret with her.
1. Default Chapter

The Ghost  
  
Kenshin and Yahiko walked along the streets of Tokyo. Kenshin had gone to go get some Tofu and Yahiko went along as an excuse to see Tsubame. He ditched Kenshin when they walked past the Ake-becko.  
  
"I'll see you later Kenshin" Yahiko said and was gone.  
  
He walked inside and found Tae at the entrance.  
  
"Why hello Yahiko!" She said cheerily as he walked in.  
  
"Hi Tae, have you seen Tsubame?"  
  
"She's up in her room I believe"  
  
"Thanks" he said and was off once again.  
  
He walked up he stairs and came to her door, he knocked and a small voice from inside same through the door.  
  
"Come in" it whispered  
  
Yahiko did so and sure enough found Tsubame sitting by the window.  
  
"Ah! Yahiko-chan!" she exclaimed happily  
  
"Don't call me chan!" He said gruffly  
  
"Hehe, sorry, please sit down, I was about to get myself a cup of tea, I'll be right back" she said and hastily got up and was gone before he could say a word.  
  
So he sat there looking around. He'd only been in Tsubame's room once or twice, and it was only for a few minutes. He noticed a little bag sitting in the corner of her room. He crawled over to it and looked inside. It contained cloths. Was Tsubame going somewhere? Was she running away?! All these thoughts ran through Yahiko's head when finally Tsubame came back in with a tray with two cups and a teapot on it.  
  
Yahiko scrambled back to the window, as Tsubame set the tray down.  
  
"So you've noticed that bag" Tsubame said  
  
"Yeah, are you going somewhere, Tsubame?" Yahiko asked anxiously  
  
"Yes, I'm temporarily moving out of the Ake-becko" "What? Why?"  
  
"I got a new job for the winter, You see, Tae is having some money troubles, we haven't been getting near the customers we used to get, and she's having trouble coming up with the money to keep the Ake-becko open" Tsubame said sadly  
  
"That's awful." Yahiko said  
  
"Yes, so I'm getting a different job and giving her the money I make from it" Tsubame said  
  
"Oh, where are you working?"  
  
"Do you remember a year ago when that western lady moved here with her mother?"  
  
"Who could forget? She didn't look Japanese at all!" Yahiko exclaimed loudly  
  
"Hehe, no she didn't, well, she moved into a mansion just out side of Tokyo, have you seen it?"  
  
Yahiko shook his head.  
  
"Well, it's just lovely! I'm going to be moving there and working as a maid"  
  
"How'd you get a job like that?"  
  
"She offered it to me when she came to eat here a few weeks ago, her exact words were 'Oh, you're just the cutest thing! If I ever had a daughter, I think she'd look just like you! Say, why don't you come and work for me? My mother would love you!'" Tsubame mimicked, making Yahiko double over in laughter.  
  
"When are you leaving?" Yahiko asked after regaining his breath.  
  
"Today"  
  
"What?! Today?! Why today?"  
  
"It's the mistresses orders, she wants me over there as soon as possible"  
  
Yahiko frowned and looked down at his cup of tea. He gulped the remainder of it down and got up.  
  
"I have to be going now, It's getting late and Kaoru'll kill me if I'm not back in ten minutes" Yahiko muttered.  
  
Tsubame just nodded and got up as well.  
  
"I'll walk you to the door, ok?" she smiled  
  
Yahiko blushed and nodded. They both walked in silence all the way down stairs and to the entrance of the Ake-becko.  
  
Yahiko stopped and looked back at Tsubame, who was blushing. He didn't know why.  
  
"Urm, Yahiko?" She mumbled  
  
"Yeah?" he asked wearily  
  
"Will you and visit me sometimes?"  
  
Yahiko's heart skipped a beat. He turned towards her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"W-well, I imagine that it will get boring over there after awhile, The Mistress told me I'll be the only child there, I would love it if you and Kaoru and Kenshin visited me sometimes." she trailed off.  
  
Yahiko smiled as her face turned the color of a cherry. He grasped her hand.  
  
"Sure" and let go of her hand and walked back to the dojo.  
  
Tsubame sighed with relief as he left, she turned around to find the one and only Tae standing in her way.  
  
"M-Miss Tae."  
  
"I saw that"  
  
"Saw what, Miss Tae?"  
  
"I've been wondering when one of you where gonna make a move, I expected it to be Yahiko, but I guess I was wrong." Tae exclaimed, shrugging her shoulders and walked off into the main kitchen.  
  
***  
  
Kenshin was doing the laundry when Yahiko came home.  
  
"How'd it go?" He asked when he saw Yahiko's tomato read face and goofy grin. "Huh? How did what go?" Yahiko asked, coming back to reality  
  
"Didn't you go to see Tsubame?" Kenshin asked, and started smirking when he saw Yahiko blush even more, if that was possible.  
  
"Y-yeah, I did"  
  
"Well?"  
  
"We had tea, found out she got a new job"  
  
"Hmm, why?" Kenshin asked, finishing up the last of the laundry and walking up to him. "Doesn't she like working at the Ake-becko?"  
  
"They're having trouble keeping it open so she got a job to try and make more money and give it to Tae"  
  
"Ah, I see, do you know where she's working?"  
  
"With that Parker lady, the western lady from last year"  
  
"Ooh yes, her, I heard she was coming down from America to move in with her sick father"  
  
"I heard that too"  
  
"Kenshin? Is the laundry done?" Kaoru walked in, she was wearing a new kimono, it was ocean blue with light blue Irises all over it. She had her hair up in a bun today, not a ponytail, and she had lightly put some make up. She had a hint of perfume on, anyone who was around her could smell it; Jasmine.  
  
Yahiko couldn't help but notice Kenshin start to blush at the sight of Kaoru; after all, even Yahiko could see she looked stunning, border lining magical.  
  
"Y-yes Kaoru-dono, I just finished, you look very lovely by the way, make I ask the occasion?"  
  
"A-arigato Kenshin, I bumped into the western lady today, Miss Parker, we had a lovely talk, she speaks Japanese very well, and she invited me over to her house, would you two like to come?" Kaoru asked.  
  
"Yes!" Yahiko yelled "I'm ready when you are!"  
  
Kenshin chuckled "I'd love to come, Kaoru-dono, just let me put this stuff away"  
  
"Hai, Yahiko and I will wait by the gate" Kaoru said and walked to the gate, followed by Yahiko.  
  
"So, why do you wanna go over there so bad?" Kaoru asked suspiciously  
  
"No reason"  
  
"Mmhmm"  
  
Kenshin soon emerged from the household and they maid their way over to the Mansion. It was quite a long walk, after all, it wasn't really inside or apart of Tokyo, it was in the forest surrounding it. It was, in fact a lovely mansion, it was the biggest house they had even seen. They all walked to the door and Kenshin knocked. A very snooty looking man answered the door.  
  
"Come right this way."the man said  
  
They all nodded and followed. The man led them to a large room, furnished in western furniture that they had never seen before. The room was empty when they went in. The man left just as soon as he had come. A lady burst through the door, she was wearing a velvet dress that hugged her body tightly, expressing her waist. The dress had a large skirt that fell about the floor. Her hair was pulled back to the top of her head in a bun.  
  
"Miss Kamiya!" She said happily "I see you brought some friends of yours! Lovely! My name is Alice Parker" she said happily, shaking Kenshin's hand.  
  
"Himura, Kenshin Himura" Kenshin said simply, smiling back.  
  
"Just call me Yahiko" Yahiko muttered.  
  
"Oh, you are just the cutest thing! We have a maid around here who's the same age as you, her name is-"  
  
"Tsubame, yeah I know, that's why I came, I wanna say high" He blushed at this comment, thanking the God's that Sano wasn't there.  
  
Kaoru smiled to herself, she thought that Yahiko's anxiousness for wanting to come here had something to do with a girl.  
  
"Ah, of coarse, I'll send for her now, she should be on the third floor, tidying one of the guest bedrooms"  
  
She picked up a small bell from the table and rang it very hard. The same snooty man came walking into the room and bowed.  
  
"Ma'am" he said  
  
"Go get our Miss Tsubame from the third floor and bring her hear at once" She ordered without looking at him.  
  
"Ma'am" he said again and walked away  
  
"Who is he?" Kaoru asked while sitting down on the large couch in the middle of the room.  
  
"He's one of my butlers, don't worry"  
  
Only minutes later did Tsubame enter the room panting from running down to flights of stairs.  
  
"Oh!" She exclaimed at the sight of her friends.  
  
She rushed over to Yahiko and sat down beside him, beaming that they came so soon. They talked for hours about certain things, Miss Parker told them about America and their customs, and Kaoru told her about her dojo, and Kamiya Kashin Ryu. Miss Parkers mother soon came in after they arrived. She was a nice old lady who seemed very happy to have visitors.  
  
"And so then I said-" Miss Parker blabbered on.  
  
Yahiko rolled his eyes and tried to keep from falling asleep.  
  
"Where's the bathroom?" He asked dully  
  
"Oh, the bathroom down here is having some problems, you'll have to use one of the bathrooms up stairs. Id you go up the stairs on the second floor, there should be a bathroom just to your right" Miss Parker said, and continued blabbering.  
  
Yahiko sighed and went to find the bathroom. He had no trouble finding it, even though he really didn't need to go, he just wanted an excuse to get away from there. He ventured a little ways down the hallway and came across another flight of stairs.  
  
"This place is so big."he mumbled and began walking up the steps.  
  
The third floor was where all the guest rooms were; all the rooms he looked in had a bed in them. He stopped to take in the peaceful silence when he heard something. At first he wasn't sure what it was, it was a soft, very soft thumping sound, it sounded like foot falls on the floor. Walked closer to the sound, sometimes it would get louder, and sometimes it would get really quiet, almost to the point where he couldn't hear it anymore.  
  
Finally it led him to a door at the very end of the hall, it wasn't that door that the sound was coming from, it was the door next to it. He put his ear up against the door, and that was when the noise stopped.  
  
.tbc. . How did you like my first RK fic? I hope it wasn't too bad, please R&R and tell what you thought. 


	2. Chapter 2

The Ghost  
  
Chapter 2  
  
He stared at the door, his heart was pounding painfully fast in his chest and the worst part was, he didn't know why. He reached for the knob of the door with a quaking hand.  
  
"Yahiko-chan?" he heard the familiar voice call out to him.  
  
"Yeah?" he called back.  
  
Tsubame ran in the direction of the voice.  
  
"Oh there you are! We were wondering where you went, Parker-san thought you might be--what were you doing?" she asked eyeing his hand and how dangerously close it was to the doorknob leading to the attic.  
  
"Oh, um, I heard something, so I was gonna check it out."  
  
"Oh no! You can't do that! Parker-san doesn't allow anyone up into the attic aside from herself and her mother!" Tsubame warned  
  
"Why?" Yahiko became rather interested in the subject at this comment  
  
"She said she keeps family heirlooms and such up there, things that she doesn't want us getting into"  
  
"Oh." he looked back at the door.  
  
"Come on, Parker-san is getting worried about you, as is Kaoru-san and Kenshin-san"  
  
She dragged him downstairs before he could even get another word in.  
  
"Oh good! Miss Tsubame found you!" Miss Parker exclaimed happily.  
  
"I-I got lost, never found the bathroom, but I don't really need it anymore"  
  
"We were getting worried Yahiko-CHAN. Thought we might have to send out a search party for you if you didn't show up after three days!" Kaoru teased evilly.  
  
"Don't call me 'chan', BUSU!" Yahiko yelled back  
  
Sparks flew like bullets between the two as they glared evilly at each other.  
  
"Now, now, Kaoru-dono, Yahiko, now isn't the time or place" Kenshin said, holding Kaoru rather tightly by the arms to keep her from beating the little boy up, and vise versa with Yahiko and Tsubame.  
  
After Kenshin and Tsubame calmed Kaoru and Yahiko down, they all sat back down. Tsubame took it upon herself to sit in between Yahiko and Kaoru incase they tried anything.  
  
"Aa, so anyway, what brought you to Japan, Parker-dono?" Kenshin asked  
  
"My father is dieing, my mother had come to get me in America and I came down as soon as I could"  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that. Why is your father living in Japan?"  
  
"He is part Japanese, my grandmother was Japanese and Grandfather was American"  
  
"And I suppose that's how you acquired the name 'Parker' and why you can speak Japanese so well" Kaoru chimed in.  
  
"Ah, yes it is, Grandmother often taught me how to speak Japanese"  
  
"What is your father dieing of?" Kenshin asked  
  
"Flu, but he is also very old, so it's understandable"  
  
"How much longer does he have?" Kaoru asked  
  
"Kaoru.."  
  
"Oh no, it's perfectly fine Mr. Himura! He has about a month left"  
  
"He's been dieing of the flu for over a year?" Yahiko asked skeptically  
  
"No, he was dieing of old age last year, but medicines the doctor gave him gave him some of his strength back, he caught the flu last month"  
  
Yahiko rolled his eyes "Why were you in such a hurry to get here?" he asked next  
  
"Um, you see, my father is a very rich, successful man, and in America, I am very poor, barely getting through each day, I need to be here to inherit his fortune when he dies"  
  
"So you're here for money" Yahiko said  
  
"Yahiko!" Kaoru exclaimed, almost reaching over Tsubame to knock his head in  
  
"If I may, may I see his will?" Kenshin asked  
  
"Of course" she then got up to retrieve her father's will  
  
Kaoru looked at him as if he were insane.  
  
"Why--"  
  
"I never heard of a western man owning this land, I would like to see if he does, if he does, it should be on his will"  
  
".. oh.."  
  
She came back into the room holding in her hand a rolled up piece of parchment. She kindly handed it to Kenshin and sat back down. He unrolled it.  
  
"My.. this is, indeed very impressive, he seems to own at least thirty acre's of the forest surrounding Tokyo, and on top of that he has quite a lot of money saved up as well.."  
  
Kaoru leaned in towards Kenshin to take a look at the will. Everyone but her noticed the blood rush to his face at record speed.  
  
"Parker-san, it says here that all rights to your fathers things will be canceled if it is proven that you have children, why?" Kaoru asked "Didn't he like children?"  
  
"Oh no, that's not it, he loves children, but I got married at a very young age, and without his consent and he was angered by it. He made so that I wouldn't be able to have children until I married a man to his approval to inherit his belongings"  
  
"Are you a widow?" Kaoru asked  
  
"No, the marriage fell through, we were just too young I suppose"  
  
"So you're marrying again?" Kenshin asked  
  
"Ah, yes, to a very kind man my father chose, I love him very much"  
  
"How exciting!!" Kaoru exclaimed, clasping her hands together, blushing and looking up at the sky. It didn't take a very hard guess to figure out what she was imagining.  
  
"Busu! We need to leave soon! I want to practice before bed!" Yahiko said sharply. He smiled at Tsubame and squeezed her hand in reassurance that he would be back. She blushed and smiled back.  
  
"Yes, we really do need to be leaving, thank you for having us over Parker- dono" Kenshin said  
  
"The pleasure was mine, why don't you all come again next week?"  
  
"That sounds nice, we might just do that" Kaoru said  
  
By the time they all got home, it was far too late for Yahiko to practice his sword fighting, as he had wished. Both Kenshin and Kaoru fell asleep right away, but Yahiko laid awake in bed, deep in thought.  
  
"What kind of 'family heir loom' would make a noise like that?" he thought, but he didn't get much time to think about it before he drifted off into the land of slumber.  
  
...tbc...  
  
A/N: So, what did you think? I'm trying to regularly update this story, or, as much as I can anyway. Well anyway, tell me what you think. Good? Bad? A waste of your time? This chapter wasn't too big, just giving you some background on Parker-dono, and maybe a few hints here and there about what's gonna happen later in the story.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
Bloodstain, signing off 


End file.
